Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will have a formal meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping when both leaders attend Apec in Bangkok at the end of the week.

It will be the first face-to-face meeting between them since her brief visit to China in 2019, although they did speak by telephone in 2021 when New Zealand was hosting Apec virtually.

Speaking to media while on her trip to Vietnam before travelling to Bangkok later today, Ardern said she could not yet confirm whether a Xi bilateral meeting would take place.

However, it is understood it is now locked in and expected to be on Friday or Saturday. Ardern is also understood to have a brief talk - known as a “pull-aside” - with US Vice-President Kamala Harris, who is attending instead of President Joe Biden.

Ardern said if the meeting with Xi went ahead, she would raise privately with him the issues she raised publicly: both positive and negative.

That would include trade, the economy and climate change “but also areas of differerence. And that is utterly consistent with New Zealand’s position”.

The summit comes at a time of increased concern by some countries about China’s assertiveness in the Pacific and tension and competition in the region between the US and China.

Ardern said New Zealand had consistently said any country engaged in the Pacific should be focused on the concerns of the region, and be careful not to create tension.

“China has a relationship in the Pacific that goes back many, many years. Our concern is the nature of some of that engagement, like the potential for militarisation in our region.”

Ardern is also likely to raise Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with Xi and add her voice to those asking Xi to use his closer relationship with Russia to help resolve the war and bring an end to it.

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Ardern said other leaders had raised the question of what China could do to help resolve that, given its closer relationship with Russia.

“New Zealand as well are seeking every opportunity to seek a change in position by Russia, and that includes talking to those who may have closer relationships. I think we should try every avenue, and that’s why it’s worth raising.”

She would also re-state New Zealand’s concern about China’s actions over Taiwan, Hong Kong, and in the South China Seas, as well as its treatment of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang.

However, it would not all be criticism. She said while their 2021 phone call was quite lengthy “nothing beats face-to-face.”

“So of course I will look to those areas we have agreement. We have a strong trading relationship. We have strong interests in making sure we are climate resilient, and we have a strong interest in looking after the wellbeing of our people through a pandemic. But we will also be very clear on where we part ways.”

She said that included human rights issues and geo-political tensions.

Ardern said that if Xi’s meeting with Biden took some of the tension out of Apec it would be “helpful.” She said tensions such as those between China and the US had the potential to impact on all countries, and while she doubted it would end competition in the region, at least open dialogue meant there were channels to stop it escalating.

Ardern on Donald Trump’s re-election bid

Ardern also made it clear she was not overly keen on seeing a return of Donald Trump as US President.

Asked about his announcement that he intended to seek the nomination to run as President again, Ardern pointed to the Xi - Biden meeting, and Biden’s push to boost the US involvement in the Indo-Pacific, compared to Trump’s approach.

 “My reflection would be that since we’ve had President Biden in the role, you see the re-engagement in our region, you see the bilateral relationship changing. It’s been positive for New Zealand, and it’s been positive for the region. And that would be my reflection.”

Ardern visited the White House in May - a visit that never happened when Trump was President.

Ardern’s other Apec meetings

Ardern has confirmed a meeting at the summit will include the Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha

She would also have “a quick catchup” with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. While other bilateral meetings were yet to be announced, she is also understood to have meetings with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, and South Korea’s President Yoon Sek-yeol.

The talks come as world leaders try to address the war in Ukraine, and deal with the economic fallout of it on supply chains, and food and energy prices.

This year will be the first Apec leaders have met in person since 2018: the 2019 summit in Chile was cancelled because of unrest and those in 2020 and 2021 were held virtually because of Covid-19.

Ardern will be one of the last of a long string of leaders Xi has met with in the last week at the G20 Summit and Apec, including his 3.5 hour meeting with Biden.

The summits come soon after Xi secured a third term as President at the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party - an unprecedented event some say will see Xi remain as president for life.

Xi also met with Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese, India’s Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau, and French President Emmanuel Macron.

However, Xi’s meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was cancelled because Sunak was instead dealing with the response to a missile landing on the Poland side of the Ukraine border, killing two people.